Payment system with item-level promotional campaigns redeemable automatically at point-of-sale devices

ABSTRACT

Retail merchants, third-party manufacturers, and/or distributors of retail goods market and distribute promotions to consumers based on the consumers&#39; transaction histories (i.e., users that do not typically purchase a particular brand of soda) and/or award promotions to consumers targeted to a specific item, class or category of item, or characteristic of an item. The promotion redeems and is applied automatically to reduce the purchase amount when the consumer presents a payment method for a transaction for the purchase of a targeted item.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS; BENEFIT CLAIM

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 as acontinuation of application Ser. No. 17/079,298, filed Oct. 23, 2020,which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 15/389,606, filed Dec. 23,2016, which claims the benefit of provisional application 62/274,546,filed on Jan. 4, 2016, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Applicantshereby rescind any disclaimer of claim scope in the parentapplication(s) or the prosecution history thereof and advise the USPTOthat the claims in this application may be broader than any claim in theparent applications.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The inventions described herein relate generally to the field of paymentsystems and, more specifically, to systems and methods for facilitatingthe creation, distribution, advertising, delivery, redemption, transfer,tracking, and management of item-level promotional offers.

BACKGROUND

Today, promotion sponsors, such as manufacturers of consumer packagedgoods (“CPU”), can create and distribute promotional offers (such as $2off a bag of potato chips) or coupons to consumers, and the consumer canredeem the promotion by presenting the offer at a merchant's point ofsale. Traditionally, such promotional campaigns require the consumer todisplay a paper or digital coupon having a bar code or other codeidentifying the promotion to a compatible merchant point-of-sale (POS)device, prior to and separate from the consumer's payment for thetransaction. Distribution of these promotional rewards typicallyincludes genetic and non-targeted publication, or may be achieved bycommunication to the consumer in connection with a single prior purchase(with a product registration initiated by the consumer), or throughother known means of associating individuals with promotions.

These traditional methods of distribution, however, whether targeted ornon-targeted, do not provide the promotion sponsor with the ability totarget item-level promotions to users based on trends in data concerningitems actually purchased (or not purchased) by an individual consumerover time, and further do not provide the promotion sponsor any abilityto track the effectiveness of a promotional offer on an individualconsumer's purchasing behavior for a period of time after the consumer'sredemption of the promotional offer.

Known promotional systems and methods also fail to facilitate theredemption of item-level promotional offers automatically in a mannerfully integrated with the consumer's payment, either at a merchant'spoint of sale or remotely (e.g., ahead of time in advance of a scheduledpick-up)), such as using a web browser or mobile app to initiate anorder. Rather, existing systems and methods generally require thepresentation of the promotional offer to the merchant prior tocalculating the final amount of the payment due from the consumer at thetime of purchase, and prior to the consumer's presentation of payment,either by cash or through some other means.

Another problem with known systems and methods is that, in manyindustries, including, for example, food service, there does not existany uniform method across retail merchant POS systems and/or orderingmanagement systems (“payment systems”) for identifying and/or describingindividual items in a merchant's retail offerings or menu. For example,a particular brand of soft drink on the menu of a restaurant might beclassified differently within each merchant's payment system, making itdifficult for third parties to direct promotional offers to individualitems across various merchant locations and channels. As anotherexample, within a single merchant payment system, a burrito with riceand cheese might be one SKU item, while a burrito with beans is anotherSKU item. At a competing merchant, a burrito with rice and cheese andbeans might be four separate SKU numbers, one for each ingredient. Tiedto this deficiency is the failure of conventional systems to offer a wayto “normalize” data across merchants—that is, to track when apromotional trigger occurs and whether the consumer takes advantage ofit at different merchant sites. The diversity of item-levelidentifications means that the same trigger may be satisfied bydifferent item-level criteria at different merchants, and the itemredeemed may similarly be different. Without the ability to achieveitem-level consistency (i.e., to normalize) across merchants, it isimpossible to reliably assess the success and economics of a promotioninvolving more than a single merchant.

Known promotional systems and methods also fail to facilitate theautomatic redemption of dynamic item-level promotional offers, such asoffers that become redeemable only after some purchasing behaviortrigger is satisfied, such as the purchase of ten identified items, orthe purchase of two items in combination, or after certain othertriggering events, such as the tenth item sold by a merchant that day.Known systems and methods also fail to allow the sponsor of thepromotion to message a consumer when a consumer enters or is inproximity to a location where the promotion can be redeemed. Knownsystems and methods also fail to provide a customer-friendly userinterface for resolving consumer disputes concerning the application ofa promotional offer to a purchased item.

Typical promotional methods and systems for targeting individual itemsof the promotion sponsor require complicated payment systems in order tofacilitate the movement of funds from the promotion sponsor to themerchant seller of the individual items for which the promotional offerwas applied.

As used herein, the term “promotion” or “promotional offer” broadlyconnotes any offer or benefit conferred on a user or consumer, and whoseredemption is or can be associated with the offer for tracking purposes(e.g., to monitor the effectiveness of the offer, the receptiveness of aparticular user (or users of a particular appliance) to offers, etc.).

A need therefore exists for a customizable, flexible approach thatallows promotion sponsors, including third-party promotion sponsors thatdo not sell retail goods or services direct to consumers at physical oronline retail locations, to create and distribute targeted promotionaloffers for consumers directed to individual items, goods, or services,or categories of same; to select recipients of the promotional offersbased on data concerning items actually purchased (or not purchased) bythe individual consumer at various retail locations or channels overtime in the past; to permit an individual consumer to receive and redeemthe promotion electronically; to permit the consumer to redeem thepromotion automatically and in a manner integrated with the consumer'spresentation of payment for the targeted item and/or other items; toprovide uniformity in classification and/or labeling of items acrossmerchant payment systems so as to permit third parties to directpromotional offers to individual items across various merchant locationsand channels, and to normalize data relating to promotion triggers andfulfillment across merchants; to enable third parties to create dynamicpromotions such as promotions that become redeemable automatically uponsome action by the consumer, such as prior purchase or series ofpurchase, or upon some event outside the consumer's control; to messagea consumer's mobile device when the device is in proximity to a locationwhere the promotion can be redeemed; to permit error-correction inconnection with an electronic receipt when the consumer believes that apromotion failed to be applied to transaction in error; to track theeffect of a promotional offer's redemption on the consumer's futurepurchasing behavior of the targeted item and/or other items at variousretail locations and channels over time; and/or, if the promotionsponsor is a third-party that does not sell the item at retail locationor channel, to facilitate the movement of funds equal to the amount ofthe promotion redeemed by the consumer between the promotion sponsor andthe redeeming retail merchant.

SUMMARY

The inventions described herein, in various embodiments, permit retailmerchants, third-party manufacturers, and/or distributors of retailgoods to market and distribute promotions to consumers based on theconsumers' transaction histories (i.e., users that do not typicallypurchase a particular brand of soda) and/or to award promotions toconsumers targeted to a specific item, class or category of item, orcharacteristic of an item, wherein such promotion redeems and is appliedautomatically to reduce the purchase amount when the consumer presents apayment method for a transaction for the purchase of a targeted item.Payment may be made in person via a merchant POS system or remotely,e.g., via an order-in-advance payment system that facilitates prepaymentfor subsequent pick-up.

Certain embodiments provide a transaction platform or transactionsystem, including transaction servers and web servers and relatedcomponents, and in communication with merchant retail POS terminaldevices and related components, third-party servers and related devices,including financial payment network servers and ordering servers, andconsumer computing and mobile devices and related components, andnecessary software and/or web applications, via existing communicationsnetworks, arranged to facilitate a fully customizable and interactiveelectronic payments network that may be leveraged by consumers,merchants, suppliers, manufacturers, and third parties to engage in thecreation, distribution, receipt, redemption, and/or tracking ofitem-level promotional offers targeted to individual consumers based onthe consumer's actual past item-level purchase activity.

In addition, certain of the embodiments of the inventions describedherein provide a central transaction platform or system that facilitatesthe synchronization of labels and classifications used by variousunaffiliated retail merchants and channels to describe the same items,thereby permitting third parties to direct item-level promotional offersto consumers for redemption automatically at retail merchant paymentsystems and devices that presently have no uniform manner foridentifying individual items within their respective payment systems.

Certain embodiments utilize a token-based transaction and marketingsystem including a transaction server or servers that may communicatedirectly or indirectly with (i) financial clearing networks, (ii)various merchant POS terminals or sales channels, (iii) third-partyservers and/or devices, including without limitation ordering serversand devices executing software for creating and customizing promotionaloffers or retrieving data from the transaction system; (iv)consumer-facing mobile applications executing on a variety of devicesand appliances; and/or (v) a variety of other devices such as paymentprocessing systems, online POSs, and various software applications(“apps”), including web applications (i.e., applications hosted on aserver and available to users via a web browser) and mobile applications(i.e., applications deployed in whole or in part on mobile devices suchas “smart” phones and tablets). The apps integrated with the token-basedtransaction system may be capable of receiving identification andfinancial information (such as information identifying a paymentinstrument, payment account, or other payment source) from users(consumers); providing such information securely to the transactionsever of the present system; receiving from the transaction server ofthe present system an identification code or token for the user; andproviding such identification code or token to the user. Theidentification code or token can be communicated by the consumer user toa merchant payment system in communication with the transaction serer ofthe present system in order to initiate payment for a retailtransaction. For example, the transaction server may function to: (i)receive a transaction request from the merchant POS device, includingdata such as tokens issued by the transaction server to a consumerdevice and the merchant POS device and the transaction amount and iteminformation, (ii) approve a transaction request based on the informationand to communicate such approval to the merchant POS device; and (iii)submit the transaction for approval via a financial processing networkto the consumer's payment instrument issuing financial institution orother source of consumer payment; and (iv) facilitate the movement offunds from consumer to the retail merchant.

Embodiments of a token-based transaction and marketing system of thetype suitable for use herewith are further described in, for example,U.S. Pat. No. 8,639,619 (“Secure Payment Method and System”); U.S. Pat.No. 8,694,438 (“Distributed Authenticity Verification for ConsumerPayment Transactions”); U.S. Pat. No. 8,838,501 (“Methods and Systemsfor Permissions Management”); and U.S. Pat. No. 8,924,260 (“DynamicIngestion and Processing of Transactional Data at the Point of Sale”),each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Certain embodiments hereof comprise a transaction server or servers incommunication with various merchant payment devices and systems,including merchant POS systems for recording and tracking transactiondata. The term “transaction data” as used herein refers to dataconcerning a retail transaction, comprising data identifying and/orconcerning the individual items, goods, or services purchased or orderedby a consumer from a merchant (“item data”) in connection with atransaction at a retail POS device or through an online (or otherremote)) channel. The transaction server may receive transaction datarelated to each transaction communicated by the merchant payment systemin connection with each individual transaction, or the transactionsystem may retrieve historical transaction data periodically from thepayment system, directly or indirectly. The transaction servercommunicates with various databases, including at least a databaseconfigured to store transaction data received by the transaction serverin accessible form. Within the transaction database, the transactiondata and item data is relationally associated with the consumer, theconsumer token issued by the transaction server to the consumer'sdevice, the merchant, and/or the merchant token issued to the merchantdevice, that participated in the retail transaction.

In certain embodiments, the transaction server(s) in connection withtransaction database(s) and merchant POS devices and systems providesfor a set of labels, tags, categories, codes, and/or identifiers(collectively, “labels”) to be assigned to item data received by thetransaction server from the merchant POS device or online POS channel,e.g., as a descriptor or identifier within the transaction system ofindividual items, good, or services identified in the item data. Labelsstored by the transaction system in association with the item data maybe assigned automatically to items based on the description applied bythe merchant POS system or online channel, or may be assigned manuallyby a merchant or third-party with access to item and/or transaction datastored within the transaction system database(s), for example, via aweb-based graphical user interface. Labels may be assigned to item dataon a transaction-by-transaction basis (i.e., automatically by the serverat the time of a transaction when item data is received), or may beassociated in the transaction system with item descriptions or itemcodes used by the merchant's POS system or online POS channel toidentify an item within the item data, and thereafter applied globallyto item data received by the transaction system. Labels associated withproduct descriptions or codes used in a merchant POS system or onlinePOS channel enable the transaction server to apply the associatedlabel(s) automatically to item data in connection with each transactionas item data is received, and permit the transaction server to determinewhether the individual items identified in item data qualifies for anypromotion associated with the label applied to such item data. Asdescribed further below, labels provide for uniformity in theidentification of item data received from various merchants that employdifferent descriptors for the same or similar items within theirrespective payment systems, thereby facilitating normalization. Suchlabels, in connection with the other components and configurations ofthe invention described herein, which provides a transaction system,facilitate the creation, distribution, redemption, and tracking ofpromotional offers sponsored by third parties and directed towardindividual items irrespective of the unique description of the item inany individual merchant's payment system.

For example, a manufacturer or distributor of soft drinks may desire tooffer or sponsor a promotion (e.g., $2 off) directed to encourageindividual consumers to purchase a particular soft drink at any retailmerchant that offers the soft drink and is integrated with a transactionsystem as described herein. The promotion sponsor may desire todistribute the promotion electronically only to users who had notpurchased the particular soft drink in the last ten days, and/or tousers who had purchased a competing soft drink within the last ten days,and to have the promotion applied automatically to the purchase price inconnection with the consumer's purchase. Alternatively, the manufactureror distributor may desire to reward loyal purchasers of its products bydistributing the same promotion to any consumer after the consumer haspurchased five of the sponsor's soft drinks at any retail merchantoffering the soft drink and utilizing the transaction system. In anotheralternative, the manufacturer or distributor may desire to distributethe promotion to users and have the promotion become redeemableautomatically after the user has purchased five of the manufacturer'ssoft drinks. Or the manufacturer or distributor may desire to reward apurchaser of an existing product with a promotion to receive a discountoff of a new product if purchased with the existing product.

As explained herein, embodiments of the present invention permit thepromotion sponsor to create, customize and distribute such promotions asdesired, and to track not only the redemption of the offer but theeffectiveness of the promotion on consumer behavior after redemption ofthe offer. Embodiments of the present invention eliminate the need forthe third-party promotion sponsor to have any direct relationship orcontact with the retail merchants that sell the third party's product.Embodiments of the present invention further permit the promotion to bedistributed by the third party and redeemed by the consumer without theknowledge or participation of the retail merchant at which the promotionwas redeemed. The transaction system described herein may permit theretail merchant to be credited (i.e., to be paid) by the transactionsystem the full amount of the transaction (without deduction of anypromotional reward), and for the third-party promotion sponsor to bedebited by the transaction system (i.e., to pay) the amount of theredeemed promotional reward.

Certain embodiments of the invention disclosed herein permit promotionsponsors, which may be manufacturers or distributors of retail goods orservices, retailer merchants, or other parties, to establish arelationship or account with a transaction system, for example, bysecure web communication between a sponsor device and a managementserver of the transaction system. A sponsor account may includeinformation about the sponsor and information about a financial accountfor the sponsor, such as a bank account or other payment source, to beused as a means to fund sponsor-offered promotions redeemable at retailPOS devices and/or remotely via an order initiated in a mobile app orother online POS channel, and/or to pay fees to the transaction platformprovider. As noted above, embodiments of the invention disclosed. hereinalso permit consumers to establish consumer accounts associated with apayment instrument to be used as a means for paying for retailpurchases, online or in-store, and to which sponsor promotions can beassociated with the consumer, and communicated and displayed to theconsumer.

Embodiments described herein provide an interface for a promotionsponsor to design and create a promotional offer by identifying thecriteria by which the promotion should be applied to a consumer'spurchase. This interface may be, for example, a web-based graphical userinterface to or an app in communication with a transaction system asdescribed herein. The transaction data, item data, merchant data (dataprovided by merchants integrated with the transaction system, such asbusiness name, description, and locations) and user data (any dataprovided by consumer users of the transaction system) stored indatabase(s) of the transaction system is arranged so as to relatedirectly to criteria selectable by the promotion sponsor. The criteriacan relate to user demographic information, geographic information,item-identification information, or temporal limitations, among manyother possible criteria. Any criteria relating to item data employstransaction system labels to identify individual items with item data,rather than descriptions of items provided by the promotion sponsor orany retail merchant, in order to ensure, as explained below, thatredemption of rewards is properly applied. regardless of the itemdescription within a given retail merchant's payment system, Forexample, a promotion sponsor may select that a $2 off promotion shouldbe provided to every person that has purchased a particular soft drinkin the last thirty days, using the transaction system label thatidentifies the soft drink and maps to the various forms of descriptionsof the soft drink across various merchant payment systems, Thetransaction system applies the specified criteria to identify a list ofpromotion recipient accounts with associated data matching the criteria.

As another example, a retail merchant may desire to sponsor a promotionredeemable only at its retail location(s) by any of its past customers,but good for $2 off a specific new line of products, such as any menuitem that contains avocados. Using the transaction system labels andinterface described herein, the merchant can apply an “Avocados” labelto any individual item description used within its POS system for anitem that contains avocados. By using the “Avocados” label to establishcriteria for a promotional offer of $2 off, the merchant is able tooffer $2 off any item that contains avocados. The invention therebyfurther permits such a promotion sponsor to create dynamic campaignssuch as time-based campaigns, where the “Avocados” promotion isredeemable only after 2:00 μm, or redeemable only until fifteenpromotions have been redeemed that day, or only after the merchant hassold fifteen “Avocado” products at full price that day.

Upon approval by the sponsor of the promotion criteria, the transactionsystem may apply the promotion, and distribute notification of thepromotion by various means, to the consumer users of the transactionsystem meeting the promotion criteria. A record may be created inconnection with each recipient user's account within the transactionsystem database(s) indicating information about the promotion, such asthe amount of the promotion available to the user, the criteria forredemption, and the identity of the promotion sponsor. Alternatively,this record may be created by the transaction system only after noticeto the consumer and some action by the consumer to acknowledge or claimthe offered promotion. Notification of the offered promotion can bedistributed by the transaction system electronically to any addressableinformation contained in the user data of the system, such as through anemail to a provided address or SMS message to a provided mobile devicetelephone number, or to merchant app on a wireless user device thatfacilitates purchases from the merchant. Notification may be providedthrough a push notification to the user's mobile device executing theapp or through a contactless proximity wireless communication such asBluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or near-field communication (NFC)when the user is in range of such a device. A combination of suchmethods may also be used.

Additionally, in various embodiments, systems and methods in accordanceherewith permit a promotion sponsor to communicate directly with therecipient or eligible recipient of a digital promotional offer in amanner that strategically promotes the redemption of the promotion, suchas through a message to the mobile device or smartphone of the user (viaSMS or a merchant app) when the user is in proximity to a retaillocation where the promotion can be redeemed. The mobile device of thepromotion recipient may be executing the merchant app designed to, interalia, display a user code or token to be transmitted to the transactionserver. The transaction system of the present invention may beconfigured to trigger messages to the consumer's mobile device when theuser device is in communication with a device at a retail location (suchas a beacon) transmitting a Bluetooth or BLE signal, or through othermeans such as geofencing and geolocation using GPS data transmitted bythe consumer device to a transaction system server.

As noted above, a promotion record may be created by the transactionsystem and associated with a consumer user's account in the transactionsystem immediately upon distribution of the campaign by the promotionsponsor, making the promotion available for redemption immediately bythe consumer. Alternatively, the notification described above mayrequire the consumer recipient to take some action to “claim” thepromotional offer prior to the promotion being available for redemption.Claiming the promotion may simply require the user to make a selectionwhen running the merchant app, or click on a web Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) to send a communication of confirmation of the user'sreceipt of the reward to the transaction system. In some embodiments,the transaction system may provide a URL requiring the consumerrecipient to enter some information or take some action in order toclaim the promotional offer. In such cases, the transaction systemcreates the record in the database(s) necessary to associate thepromotion with the recipient's account only after the required action istaken to “claim” the promotion.

Once a promotion is associated with a user account within thetransaction system, the promotion is immediately available to be appliedautomatically by the transaction system to the next retail purchase,online or in-store, made by the user using the transaction system toinitiate payment that meets the specified promotion redemptionconditions. Given the example of a distributed promotion for $2 off thepurchase of a particular soft drink, identified by a specified labelwithin the transaction system, the transaction system analyzestransaction and item data received from a merchant POS device each timea transaction is initiated by the consumer using the transaction systemto determine whether the received transaction and item data meets theconditions for any reward or promotion associated with the transactinguser's account. A transaction may be initiated by the consumer byproviding or communicating to the merchant a consumer identifier, code,or token assigned by the transaction system to the consumer, forexample, remotely via a merchant or payment app, or in person via thedisplay of a QR code to be optically scanned by the merchant POS systemor communication via NFC or BLE, of the token from a consumer mobiledevice to a merchant POS device. In this example, if the user purchasedthe promoted soft drink, the item data received by the transactionsystem from the merchant POS device would either contain: (i) the labelused. by the transaction system to identify the promoted soft drink or(ii) a description of the soft drink used within the merchant's POSsystem, which is mapped automatically by the transaction system based ondata provided previously by the merchant to the correct label within thetransaction system. Upon detection that the label contained in thereceived item data corresponded to criteria in a promotional recordassociated with the user's account in the transaction system, the amountof the promotion (in this case $2) can be deducted automatically fromthe total transaction amount to be charged to the payment instrumentassociated with the user's account in the transaction system.

Embodiments described herein enable the integration of consumer devices,merchant devices, and third-party promotion sponsor devices with thetransaction system, permit the sharing of certain transaction data withthe third-party promotion sponsor so the promotion sponsor can track theredemption of the offered promotion. For example, the transaction systemmay communicate to the promotion sponsor information stored in thedatabases) of the transaction system concerning the user data associatedwith users that claimed and/or redeemed the offered promotion, theidentification of items purchased by such users (including items otherthan the promoted item), the location(s) at which the promotion wasredeemed. Embodiments described herein further permit a promotionsponsor to limit, cap, alter, or terminate distribution or redemption ofa promotional offer based on predetermined criteria, such as a number ofredemptions or a set expiration time period, or upon a latercommunication from the promotion sponsor to the transaction system withinstructions to terminate or alter a promotion.

Embodiments described herein also provide for error resolution by a userin connection with a digital receipt for a transaction initiated with atransaction server. For example, a digital receipt sent to a mobiledevice of a user following a transaction initiated via the transactionserver may include a listing of items purchased (based on informationreceived by the transaction server from the merchant POS device) and anidentification of item-level promotions offered by third parties and/orthe retailer that were applied to the transaction by the transactionserver. To the extent the consumer believes that a promotion should havebeen applied to an item and was not (for example, because the item wasnot identified or classified properly in the transaction server systemas eligible for a promotion), the digital receipt may permit the user toselect or click on an item in the receipt, and to select an availablepromotion, in order to notify the transaction system provider, merchant,and or promotion sponsor of the customer's complaint or error.

Embodiments described herein automatically facilitate the transfer ofvalue for any promotions redeemed between the promotion sponsor and theredeeming retail merchant following consumer redemption. Using the aboveexample, when a consumer redeems a $2 third-party promotion bypurchasing a promoted soft drink at a retail merchant unaffiliated withthe soft drink distributor, the transaction platform automaticallyinitiates a charge to the consumer's payment source associated withtheir transaction system account for the amount of the transaction minusthe $2 reward redeemed (i.e., the consumer saved $2). The transactionsystem pays to the redeeming retail merchant, however, the full amountof the transaction, including the $2 reward.

Transaction systems in accordance herewith may be configured such thateach merchant or third-party ordering service need not register or havea preexisting relationship with the transaction-system provider in orderto accept online orders initiated by a user through the transactionsystem. The transaction system may interface to various providers and/ormerchants through public application programming interfaces (APIs) inorder to obtain menu information and place orders, or may integrate morefully to an ordering provider see, e.g., U.S. Ser. No. 15/281,835, filedon Sep. 30, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedby reference. As a result, a consumer using a single app, such as amobile application configured to communicate with the disclosedtransaction system, will have access to a number of merchants that useproprietary online ordering services that may be incompatible with eachother. Where multiple ordering channels are available (e.g., multiplethird-party channels and/or a proprietary merchant channel), thetransaction system may compare the speed and cost of availablefulfillment and/or delivery options and initiate the order bycommunication to the most efficient and/or least costly option.

In addition, the system may accurately predict the user's arrival at aselected merchant location and convey the order (e.g., including thepromotional item if selected by the customer) for preparation so that itwill be ready for pick-up when the customer arrives, thereby sparing thecustomer the need to estimate and convey an estimated pickup time. Forexample, transaction systems in accordance herewith may utilize GPSand/or other geolocation data provided by, for example, a consumermobile app on a consumer mobile device, and/or Bluetooth or BLE beaconinformation received from a mobile device, in order to ascertain theconsumer's location. Either autonomously or using a third-party mappingsystem, the transaction system may estimate the consumer's arrival timeand arrange for the order to be ready at that time (e.g., byinstructions electronically provided to the merchant or to preparationstaff). This permits the consumer to make an order-ahead request to havethe goods ready at the time the consumer arrives at a location, ratherthan at a specified time. The transaction system may, in addition,periodically monitor the consumer's location to assess progress andadjust the expected arrival time accordingly. The transaction system,which is configured to facilitate payment, may charge a premium price tothe consumer for this “make-it-now” service and/or any of the otherbenefits and advantages described herein. It may also offer the“make-it-now” option only if it fulfillment is currently possible i.e.,the user is far enough away from the provider that, given the provider'scurrent backlog, the order can be ready when the user is likely toarrive. In some embodiments, the system may use the consumer's desiredorder and current location to identify merchants capable of fulfilling a“make-it-now” order, given reported merchant backlogs and locations.

Transaction systems in accordance herewith may be configured tointegrate to (i.e., communicate and exchange data with) a plurality ofindependent and/or proprietary online ordering systems, and may furtherautomatically arbitrate among various possible providers for onlineordering service in order to determine the least-expensive option for aconsumer wishing to place an online order. For example, a consumerdesiring a pizza. delivery from a selected merchant may have multipleoptions for online delivery ordering to choose from. The transactionsystem, through consumer-facing web and/or mobile apps, may beconfigured to receive order information and determine the most costeffective ordering option to have the order conveyed to the retail foodmerchant and/or to identify the most cost effective delivery service ormechanism.

Accordingly, in a first aspect, the invention relates to a system forthe redemption of promotions in connection with retail transactions. Invarious embodiments, the system comprises a communications network; aplurality of merchant devices communicating over the communicationsnetwork, each of the merchant devices being associated with a differentmerchant; a payment-processing server; a computer memory; and atransaction server. A “merchant device” may be a physical (in-store) oronline POS transaction-processing system. First and second merchants are“different merchants” if they are unaffiliated with each other. Thus,suppose there are two “different” merchants each with three POS devices;in this case, the set consisting of one POS device from each of themerchants would qualify as a plurality of merchant devices eachassociated with a different merchant.

The computer memory may comprise a first database of stored userinformation, the user information being organized as records eachcorresponding to a user and containing a user identifier, informationrelating to at least one payment instrument associated with the user,and user information relevant to promotions including at least usertransaction information; a second database of item-promotion informationcorresponding to at least one promotion relating to an item andredeemable at merchant devices of at least two unaffiliated merchants inconnection with purchase of the item; and a third database of iteminformation corresponding to items available for purchase from at leasttwo unaffiliated merchants, the third database being organized asrecords each corresponding to an item and containing identifiers for theitem available from the corresponding merchants.

The transaction system communicates over the communications network andwith the databases, and may comprise a computer processor for receivingpromotion information from a third-party device over the communicationsnetwork, the promotion information identifying promotions redeemable atmerchant devices of at least two unaffiliated merchants; adding thepromotion information to the second database; creating associationsbetween the promotion information in the second database and iteminformation in the third database; receiving a request for authorizationof a transaction, the request comprising a user token, item information,and a transaction amount; determining whether the item information isassociated with any promotion in the second database and, if so,applying the promotion to reduce the transaction amount; and submittingthe transaction amount less any applied promotion to thepayment-processing sever along with information corresponding to thepayment instrument associated with the user in the first database.

In some embodiments, the system further comprises a promotion-managementserver communicating over the communications network and with thedatabases, and configured for (i) using the promotion information in thesecond database to identify promotion-eligible users in the firstdatabase, and (ii) communicating the promotion information and a usertoken to a mobile device of each of the promotion-eligible users. Thepromotion information may comprise a dollar value, informationcorresponding to the identity of an item in the third database, andrules for the application of the dollar value to transaction requestscontaining the item associated with the promotion. For example, the itemidentity information may be item label records.

In some embodiments, the computer processor within the transactionsystem is further configured to (i) use the promotion information toidentify promotion-eligible users in the first database, and (ii) createassociations between records in the first database corresponding topromotion-eligible users and promotions in the second database. Thecomputer processor within the transaction system may be furtherconfigured to determine, based on the receipt of the user token inconnection with a transaction request communicated by a merchant device,whether the user associated therewith is also associated with one ormore promotions and, if so, to apply the one or more promotions to thetransaction amount. The identifiers may be item label records, in whichcase the computer processor within the transaction system may beconfigured to determine, based on the item label records, whether theuser associated with the user token is also associated with one or morepromotions that are themselves associated with the item.

In another aspect, the invention pertains to a system for the redemptionof promotions in connection with retail transactions where, in variousembodiments, the system comprises a communications network; a pluralityof user devices communicating over the communications network; aplurality of merchant devices communicating over the communicationsnetwork; a payment-processing server; a computer memory; and atransaction-management server.

The computer memory may comprise a first database of stored userinformation, the user information being organized as records eachcorresponding to a user and containing a user identifier, informationspecifying at least one payment instrument associated with the user, anduser information including at least user transaction information; asecond database of item-promotion information corresponding to at leastone promotion relating to an item and redeemable at merchant devices ofat least two unaffiliated merchants in connection with purchase of theitem; and a third database of item information corresponding to itemsavailable for purchase at the merchant devices of at least twounaffiliated merchants, the third database being organized as recordseach corresponding to an item and containing identifiers for the item inthe corresponding merchant devices.

The transaction-management server communicates over the communicationsnetwork and with the databases, and may comprise a computer processorfor receiving promotion information from a third-party device over thecommunications network, the promotion information identifying promotionsredeemable at merchants devices; adding the promotion information to thesecond database; creating associations between the promotion informationin the second database and item information in the third database;receiving a request for authorization of a transaction at a merchantfrom a merchant device or consumer device, the request comprising a usertoken, item information, and a transaction amount; determining whetherthe item information received from the merchant or user device isassociated with any promotion in the second database and, if so,applying the promotion to reduce the transaction amount; and submittingthe transaction amount less any applied promotion to thepayment-processing sever along with information corresponding to thepayment instrument associated with the user in the first database.

Still another aspect of the invention relates to a system for theredemption of promotions in connection with retail transactions where,in various embodiments, the system comprises a communications network; aplurality of user devices communicating over the communications network;a plurality of merchant devices communicating over the communicationsnetwork; a computer memory; and a transaction-management server.

The computer memory may comprise a first database of stored userinformation, the user information being organized as records eachcorresponding to a user and containing a user identifier; a seconddatabase of item-promotion information corresponding to at least onepromotion relating to an item and redeemable at merchant devices of atleast two unaffiliated merchants in connection with purchase of theitem; and a third database of item information corresponding to itemsavailable for purchase at the merchant devices of at least twounaffiliated merchants, the third database being organized as recordseach corresponding to an item and containing identifiers for the item inthe corresponding merchant devices.

The transaction-management server communicates over the communicationsnetwork and with the databases, and may comprise a computer processorfor receiving promotion information from a third-party device over thecommunications network, the promotion information identifying promotionsredeemable at merchants devices; adding the promotion information to thesecond database; creating associations between the promotion informationin the second database and item information in the third database;receiving an order from an ordering user device, the order specifyingone or more items; and identify, using the third database, and transmitto the ordering user device identifiers of one or more merchants fromwhich the one or more items are available and any promotions associatedboth with the one or more items and the one or more merchants. Invarious embodiments, the ordering user device is configured to (a)receive, from the user device, a selection of one of the identifiedmerchants, and (b) transmit the order and any identified promotion to amerchant device of the selected merchant.

The ordering user device may be further configured to compute atransaction amount for the order, apply any identified promotion toreduce the transaction amount, and thereupon transmit the order to amerchant device of the selected merchant. The transmitted order mayinclude a payment instrument. In some embodiments, thetransaction-management server is further configured to obtain ageolocation of the user, the identified merchants being ranked in orderof proximity to the user. The transaction-management server may befurther configured to (i) determine a wait time for preparation of theordered goods for pickup, (ii) based on the user geolocation and amerchant pickup geolocation associated with the selected merchant,estimate a travel time of the user to a pickup location of the selectedmerchant, and (iii) transmit the estimated travel time to the orderinguser device. The ordering user device may be further configured todetermine whether an order preparation time exceeds the estimated usertravel time, and if not, to place the order with the selected merchantas a pickup order.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the sameparts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, with an emphasis instead generally being placedupon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the followingdescription, various embodiments of the present invention are describedwith reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary transaction system and networkin accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are block diagrams of an exemplary mobile device andtransaction server, respectively, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example promotion-based transactionprocess employing an embodiment of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION

Refer first to FIG. 1 , which illustrates an exemplary mobile-paymentand online ordering transaction system and network that includes userequipment (e.g., a consumer computing device or mobile device) 102linked to a network 104 (e.g., a cellular telephone network, theInternet, or any wide-area network or combination of networks capable ofsupporting point-to-point data transfer and communication) of variousinterconnected devices to support wired, wireless, or any two-waycommunication. Throughout this disclosure, the term device 102 may bereferred to as “mobile device 102” for exemplary purposes, but suchreferences are not meant to preclude the use of any consumer computingdevice as the device 102. The network 104 connects various devices,including a transaction server 106, one or more merchant systems (e.g.,POS terminals or online POS portals) 108 and related components, apayment server 110, one or more third-party online ordering servers 111,an item data-management server 117, a promotion-management server 119,one or more delivery providers 121. one or more third-party onlineordering aggregator services 131, 141, and a third-party payment gateway151 and server 152 associated therewith utilizing, again, wired,wireless, or any two-way communications. For clarity, a distinction isdrawn in the figure between the third-party payment processor 151, whichmay be an account-issuing institution or a payment-processinginstitution, for example, and the server 152 controlled by this party inprocessing transactions as herein described. In the ensuing discussion,however, the payment gateway 151 and the server 152 are referred tosomewhat interchangeably as the context warrants.

Each merchant system 103 may be associated with a merchant who offersgoods or services for sale to the user possessing the device 102. In oneembodiment, the merchant system 108 is a POS system (e.g., an electroniccash register) that includes or connects to a code reader or scanner(hereafter “reader”) 112 among other components. The merchant system 108may also include beacon hardware 114, as part of the scanner 112 or asanother connected or unconnected device, that transmits a Bluetooth orBLE signal containing an identifier known to the transaction server 106and associated within the transaction system with the location ofmerchant system 108. The reader 112, may be capable of reading and/ordecoding, for example, a barcode, a radiofrequency identification (RFD)code, or a bar code or “Quick Response” (QR) code, and/or receivingsignals, such as NFC signals, Bluetooth signals, BLE signals, iBeaconsignals, audio signals, or infrared signals. In addition, the reader 112may be mobile, or physically associated with the merchant system 108.

The payment server 110 may be operated by a payment-processing entityresponsible for authenticating, processing, and/or actually performingthe payment transaction. For example, a so-called “direct” paymentprocessor represents the financial-processing backend provider tocredit-card issuers and payment services such as PAYPAL. An “indirect”payment processor is an independent entity processing transactions formultiple payment services and maintains its own records and data.

The third-party server 111 may be in communication with the merchantsystem 108 and/or authorized by the merchant 108 to accept orders on themerchant's behalf The third-party online ordering aggregator services131, 141 may each have business relationships with the merchant 108 andare authorized to accept online orders on behalf of the merchant. In oneimplementation, the merchant 108 and/or online ordering providers 111,131, 141 do not offer a delivery service and the transaction server 106may communicate with a server of the delivery provider 121 to arrangedelivery of the items ordered from the merchant 108 to a specifieddelivery address at a specified time designated by the user.

The third-party payment gateway 151 and associated server 152 processtransactions made by the user using the payment instrument registeredwith transaction server 106 at physical and online points of sale. Thetransaction server 106 may be configured to communicate via secureapplication programming interfaces to the server 152 of third-partypayment gateway 151, such as a bank server, information concerning thepayment instrument registered by the user with the transaction server106, and to receive in response information concerning the locations(either by address or by latitude/longitude data obtained via a POSsystem 108), merchants, amounts, and/or items associated withtransactions by the user using that payment instrument

Referring to FIG. 2A, in various embodiments, the mobile device 102includes a conventional display 202, a user interface 204, a processor206, and a memory 208, and one or more transmitter/receivers 209 capableof transmitting and/or receiving signals such as cellular signals,wireless signals, radiofrequency signals, NFC signals, Bluetoothsignals, iBeacon signals, audio signals, or infrared signals. The memory208 includes an operating system (OS) 210, such as GOOGLE ANDROID, NOKIASYMBIAN, BLACKBERRY RIM or MICROSOFT WINDOWS MOBILE, and a code process212 that implements the device-side functions as further describedbelow. The mobile device 102 alone may not require a network to be usedin the context of the present invention. In addition, additionaltransactional information may be embedded in the code process 212 fortransmission through the network 104 for later processing on a back-endserver (e.g., the payment server 110). As used herein, the term “mobiledevice” used for transacting a mobile payment refers to a “smart phone”or tablet with advanced computing ability that, generally, facilitatesbi-directional communication and data transfer using a mobiletelecommunication network, and is capable of executing locally storedapplications and/or payment transactions. Mobile devices include, forexample, IPHONES (available from Apple Inc., Cupertino, Calif.),BLACKBERRY devices (available from Research in Motion, Waterloo,Ontario, Canada), or any smart phones equipped with the ANDROID platform(available from Google Inc., Mountain View, Calif.), tablets, such asthe IPAD and KINDLE FIRE, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Referring to FIG. 2B, in some embodiments, the transaction server 106includes a processor 222, a memory 224 having an operating system 226, acode payment process 228, a service application 230, a web-server block236, and a storage device 238. The code payment process 228 implementsthe server-side functions of facilitating secure mobile payments asfurther described below and in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,639,619,8,694,438, and 8,838,501, which are incorporated by reference herein intheir entireties. The service application 230, integrating acode-generation module 232 with a communication module 234, generates aunique user identifier and communication with a consumer device 102,such as a mobile device. More specifically, the code-generation module232 may generate a unique code tied to the information received from theuser via the communication module 234; the generated code may then betransmitted back to the consumer device or mobile device 102 via thecommunication module 234. The code-generation module 232 functionssimilarly to a conventional code-generator that converts the inputinformation into a form that can be readily read or executed by amachine. The communication module 234 may be a conventional component(e.g., a network interface OF transceivers designed to providecommunications with a network, such as the Internet and/or any otherland-based or wireless telecommunications network or system, and,through the network, with a consumer's device 102. To enable thehandling of requests from the mobile device 102, the memory 224 containsa web-server block 236, which can be a conventional web serverapplication executed by the processor 222.

The transaction server 106 may include a database 240 that resides inthe storage device 238 and/or an external mass-storage device 242accessible to the transaction server 106. The database 240 includesuser, merchant, third-party online ordering service, third-party onlineordering aggregator service, and delivery service partitions (orseparate databases). The user database stores, for example, a record ofeach registered user and payment information for the user, e.g., a code,signal and/or a token associated with each user record. The readablecode may be a mature code (e.g., displayable as a QR code or a barcode), a seed code that can generate a mature code later, or anauthentication token. In one embodiment, the readable code isunchangeable. In another embodiment, the readable code is resetperiodically (e.g., in a predetermined period of time), or upon requestor manual intervention, for security purposes or upon receiving arequest from the user. The merchant partition (or database) may includerecords each specifying a merchant, goods sold by the merchant, ageolocation of and, as described below, a current wait time for orderpreparation received from the POS system of the specified merchant (orfrom a web server via a script, or from an ordering server via an APIcall that allows the transaction server 106 to receive wait-time data).Likewise, the partitions (or databases) of the third-party onlineordering service, third-party online ordering aggregator service, anddelivery service may include records specifying third-parties authorizedby the merchant to accept orders on the merchant's behalf, third-partyonline ordering aggregator services having business relationships withvarious merchants and authorized to accept online orders on behalf ofthe merchant, and delivery providers, respectively.

The server 106 also includes a geolocation application 244. As usedherein, the term “geolocation” refers generally to an approximateterrestrial location, whether expressed in terms of GPS coordinates, acellular location, an address, etc. As explained in greater detailbelow, geolocation application 244 computes expected travel timesbetween a user geolocation and a merchant's order pickup site.Geolocation application 244 may communicate with third-party mappingand/or traffic-monitoring services in computing travel times.

Referring to FIG. 2B, in some embodiments, the transaction server 106, aprocessor 222, a memory 224 having an operating system 226, a codepayment process 228, a service application 230, and a web-serer block236 and a storage device 238. The code payment process 228 implementsthe server-side functions of facilitating secure mobile payments asfurther described below. The service application 230, integrating acode-generation module 232 with a communication module 234, generates aunique user identifier and communication with the mobile device 102.More specifically, the code-generation module 232 may generate a uniquecode tied to the information received from the user via thecommunication module 234; the generated code may then be transmittedback to the mobile device 102 via the communication module 234. Thecode-generation module 232 functions similarly to a conventionalcode-generator that converts the input information into a form that canbe readily read or executed by a machine. The communication module 234may be a conventional component (e.g., a network interface ortransceiver) designed to provide communications with a network, such asthe Internet and/or any other land-based or wireless telecommunicationsnetwork or system, and, through the network, with the mobile device 102.To enable the handling of requests from the mobile device 102, thememory 224 contains a web-server block 236, which can be a conventionalweb server application executed by the processor 222.

The transaction server 106 may implement the functions of payment andidentity-management servers 115 and may include a user database 240 thatresides in the storage device 238 and/or an external mass-storage device242; the user database 240 stores, for example, a record of eachregistered user and a readable code or signal associated with each userrecord. The readable code may be a mature code (e.g., a QR code or a barcode), a seed code that can generate a mature code later, or anauthentication token. In one embodiment, the readable code isunchangeable. In another embodiment, the readable code is resetperiodically (e.g., in a predetermined period of time) for securitypurposes or upon receiving a request from the user. The user database240 (or another similar database) also stores a record for each usercontaining user demographic information, and such user records can berelationally associated with other information concerning the user inthe user database 240 or other server databases, including for example,records containing transaction data, item data, and promotional data.For example, the user database may include records for each transactioninitiated by a user via the transaction server 106 at a merchant system108, including for example, the date, time, location, and amount of eachtransaction. The user database may include records identifying each itempurchased on connection with each transaction initiated by a user viathe transaction server 106 at a merchant system 108. These records areassociated with the user record for a registered user and directly orindirectly with the identifying and demographic information for the userand/or the readable code or signal associated with each user record.

The transaction server 106 may implement the functionality of itemdata-management server 117 and may include an item-data database 250that resides in the storage device 238 and/or an external mass-storagedevice 242 accessible to the item data-management server 117, thepayment and identity-management server 115; and may also implement thefunctionality of the promotion-management server 119. The itemdata-management server 117 may function to apply labels to recordsassociated with item data stored in connection or association with userrecords, either based on rules, logic, or algorithms created previouslywithin the server and/or manual instructions to the server to apply suchlabels, for example, through a web-based GUI presented by the itemdata-management server 117 or promotion-management server 119. The itemdata-management server 117 may also function to apply labels to itemdata received from merchant systems 108 in bulk, and thereby createrules for the automated application of labels to item data contained intransaction data received in future transactions. The itemdata-management server 117 may also function to apply labels based onpredictive or machine-learning algorithms applied to item data receivedfrom merchant POS systems 108 (for example, the item data-managementserver 117 may be configured to determine automatically that thedescription of an item within a merchant system containing some form ofthe word “Coca-Cola” should be labeled as “COKE”). The item-datadatabase 250 may store, for example, records of individual itemspurchased by users in POS transactions via the transaction server 106.The item-data database 250 may also store, for example, recordsidentifying all items sold by a given merchant, along with thedescriptions or identifiers or codes used within such merchant system108 to refer to or identify each item. The item-data database 250 mayalso store information concerning labels available within thetransaction server 106 to identify individual items and associationsbetween transaction system labels and individual items.

The transaction server 106 may include a promotion-management server 119and may include a promotions database 260 that resides in the storagedevice 238 and/or an external mass-storage device 242 accessible to thepromotion-management server 119. The promotion-management server 119 mayfunction to present a web-based GUI for the creation of promotionaloilers and campaigns, including for example, redemption rules anddistribution criteria, to distribute promotional offers to user devicesassociated with users according to said criteria, and to applyredemption rules to transaction and item data received from merchant POSsystems 108 in connection with requested transactions. The promotiondatabase 260 stores, for example, a record of each promotion designedand created by a promotion sponsor, including for example, informationconcerning the criteria for identifying recipients of the offer,criteria for the redemption of the offer by eligible recipients, thenature or amount of the promotional offer, and promotion sponsorinformation. These records may be relationally associated with userrecords contained in the user database 240. The transaction server 106,the payment and identity-management server 115, item data-managementserver 117, and promotion-management server 119 may be individual serverdevices or combinations of devices or may be implemented as a singleserver device, as noted above, or in a combination of devices.

User Accounts. The transaction server 106 described herein, in oneembodiment, permits users to establish accounts with the transactionsystem by providing information including at least: (i) some addressableinformation of the user, such as an email address, IP address, deviceidentifier, phone number, or the like; and (ii) sonic financial accountinformation, such as a debit or credit card account number, a prepaidcredit card account number, a bank account number, or the like. Uponestablishing an account, the transaction system assigns a user anidentification token, which may be encoded or represented in the form ofa bar code, QR code or other pattern that can be read or scanned by anoptical scanner, either from the display of a computing or mobile deviceor a printed paper or card, which may be an alphanumeric code, or whichmay be encoded or represented as data that can be communicated to POSterminal system by a computing or mobile device using a proximitywireless communication technology, such as NFC, Bluetooth, or iBeacontechnology, or an alphanumeric that may be communicated to a POSterminal or entered into an online POS, or a combination of thesemethods. The identification token is associated in the transactionserver 106 with the user's information, including the at least someaddressable identification information and financial accountinformation, and stored in the user database 240. The user may initiatea purchase transaction at a merchant system 108 (such as a POS terminalor online POS) by presenting, displaying, or communicating the useridentification token to the merchant, for example, via a reader orscanner 112 in connection with a merchant POS terminal 108. The merchantseeks authorization of the purchase transaction by communicating, overestablished, existing networks 104, information to the transactionserver 106 including at least the transaction amount and useridentification token. The merchant also may submit information includinga merchant identification token assigned by the transaction server 106.The transaction server 106 may in turn submit a charge to a financialaccount associated with the user identification token using knownmethods for processing electronic transactions, including through apayment processor 110. The transaction server 106 makes or facilitatespayment to the merchant.

User Payment Transactions, In various embodiments, payment transactionsin accordance herewith may include or consist of three phases: anactivation phase, a registration phase, and a use phase. In theactivation phase, the user first provides identifying information to thetransaction system/management server 106 using, for example, a mobiledevice 102. The code-generation module 232 of the transaction server 106then generates a unique user identifier tied to an account created forthe user; the user's account, in turn, may be represented by a record ina user database 260 maintained by the transaction server 106. The userrecord includes, for example, the transmitted user information and/orgenerated user identifier, as well as other information (name, address,wireless phone number, etc.) uniquely identifying the user; the userrecord may be part of, or include a pointer to, the user's financialaccount information. In some embodiments, the unique user identifier isa seed code utilized to generate a unique mature code (e.g., a QR codeor other codes) that can be captured by, for example, a merchant's POSterminal 108, In one embodiment, the generated unique mature code isstored in the database 260 and successively transmitted to the user'smobile device 102 via, for example, wireless cell phone communication,ultrasound, Bluetooth, near-field communication, Internet, or a mobileapplication. In another embodiment, the unique mature code is directlysent to the mobile device 102 without being stored in the database 260.This unique mature code may be later presented to the merchant system108 when the user purchases goods or services, as further describedbelow. Because the mature QR code maps to the user's identityinformation stored in the database 260 only and contains no informationabout any user's payment tokens (e.g., credit or debit card information)or payment instrument data, hacking the management server 106 alonecannot provide sufficient information to conduct a fraudulent payment.Additionally, the unique identifier may be used as a seed to generate amultitude of QR codes all of which can be decoded back to a singleunique QR code, allowing for new QR codes to be generated and pushed tothe mobile device 102 on a periodic, per-transaction or time-out basis;the same key, generated with respect to the unique QR code, can be usedto validate any of these additional QR codes. In addition, the QR codemay be reset upon receiving a request from the user, for example, at thebeginning of each transaction; this further prevents a fraudulent use ofthe QR code. Although the discussion herein focuses on QR codes forpurposes of illustration, the present invention is not limited to anyparticular form of code. In addition, any suitable mechanism forrepresenting and transferring the code derived from a seed code may beused. For example, ultrasound, Bluetooth, NFC or other communicationmedia besides visual representation and automated recognition may beused and are within the scope of the current invention,

In the registration phase, the user registers a payment instrument(e.g., a credit card, debit card, a bank account, or a pre-loadedpayment card) to her user account. In a representative transaction flow,the user first issues a registration request to the transaction server106 using the mobile device 102 or a web application. The transactionserver 106 responds to the request with a registration form (e.g., inthe form of a web page), which is displayed on the device 102 in amanner that permits the user to enter information identifying thepayment instrument to be registered. In one embodiment, the registrationform includes a client-side script that directly submits the dataentered by the user to a third-party payment processor's gateway over,for example, a secure socket layer (SSL) connection. The user-entereddata is stored in or by the third-party payment gateway 151, which alsogenerates a “redirect” uniform resource locator (URL) that includes theInternet address of the transaction server 106 and a token thatidentifies the payment instrument, but which does not identify the user.When the user submits the entered registration data, the client-sidescript causes a request for the redirect URL also to be transmitted tothe gateway 151. When the redirect URL arrives at the mobile device 102and is processed by the user's browser, it redirects the browser back tothe management server 106 without displaying any content, thus creatingthe impression that the user has never left the management server site.In another representative transaction flow, the user transmitsinformation about the payment instrument to the management server 106using the mobile device 102. The management server 106 encrypts thereceived information with a one-way key and passes the encrypted data tothe third-party payment gateway 151. The third-party gateway 151, whichis the only party having the key to decrypt the data in the transaction,generates a token that identifies the registered payment instrument. Thegenerated token is transmitted back to the management server 106 andstored therein for transacting future payments. Because the dataincluding a user's identity and payment instrument are separately storedin the management server 106 and the third-party payment gateway 151,respectively, unauthorized access to any one of the records therein isinsufficient to initiate a payment transaction under the user's name;this, again, ensures the security of the mobile payment.

In various embodiments, the token generated by the third-party paymentgateway 151 is transmitted to the transaction server 106. Thetransaction server 106 associates the token with the user's accountrecord and stores it in the database 260 as a payment identifier. Uponreceiving a payment request from the user, the transaction server 106uses the stored token to initiate the payment transaction through thethird-party payment gateway 320, against the payment instrumentpreviously submitted, without ever having knowledge or possession of thepayment-instrument data itself. Since the payment-instrument data is notstored and cannot be obtained by the management server 106, thisapproach, again, prevents fraudulent payments.

In the use phase, the management server 106 executes the instructions ofthe code payment process 222 and transmits a QR code to the user'smobile device 102 for presentation to a merchant; as noted above, the QRcode may be revised periodically for security purposes, and is typicallygenerated using encryption based on user-specific information in thedatabase 260.

A payment transaction is initiated when the user presents the QR codestored in the mobile device 102 to the merchant system 108. The merchantsystem 108 may scan the code using, e.g., a POS integrated scanner, andthereupon transmits the scanned data along with the payment amount tothe management server 106. The merchant system 108 may also communicateto the management server 106, along with the scanned data or in aseparate communication, information concerning item data for thetransaction, which may include for example, an identification ofindividual items purchased by the user in that transaction Theidentification of items within the item data may include textualdescriptions used within the merchant system 108 to identify items,codes used to identify items, and/or labels used by the managementserver 106 to identify items. At the time of the payment transaction,neither the merchant 108 nor the user has access to the underlyingpayment instrument; the QR code merely identifies the user. Further, inthe case of a QR code that resets, even an image of the presented QRcode may not be used again for future payments (as the user would bythen have a new QR code).

In various embodiments, upon receiving the QR code and payment amountand/or item data from the merchant system 108, the management server 106decodes the QR code and matches the information therein to the user'srecord stored in the database 260. The management server 106 thenretrieves the stored payment token associated with the user's accountand passes the token and the amount to be charged to the third-partygateway 151 for authorizing a payment. The third-party payment gateway151 authorizes and processes (or rejects) the payment request againstthe payment instrument corresponding to the token, and creates anassociated transaction identifier or rejection code. The createdidentifier or code may be sent to the management server 106 forre-transmission to the merchant system 108, or may instead be sentdirectly to the merchant system 108 to complete the transaction. Wherethe created identifier is first handled by the management server 106before transmittal to the merchant system 108, the management server 106may generate and provide additional information (e.g., trackinginformation) to the merchant system 108 to enable a closed-loopenvironment of consumer information e.g., effectiveness ofadvertisement, consumer demographics, and referral information. Again,because none of the user's mobile device 102, the merchant system 108,the management server 106, or the third-party gateway 151 possesses bothuser identity information and the underlying payment instrument, thistriple-blind payment system provides high security for the user'sidentity and privacy; accordingly, the possibility of financial lossesfor the customer is minimized during an m-payment transaction inaccordance herewith.

Mapping Item Data. In various embodiments, upon receiving the QR codeand payment amount and item data from the merchant system 108, thetransaction system or management server 106 may store item data for thetransaction in association with user record, either in a user database240, or in a separate item-data database 250. An exemplary item recordincludes information concerning item data received by the transactionsystem from a merchant POS device integrated with the transactionsystem. The transaction server 106, for example, using the itemdata-management server 117, identifies within the item-data database 250any associations created between the description of identifiers ofindividual items received in the item data from the merchant system 108as part of the transaction and applies and stores with such item datathe appropriate label established within the transaction server 106. Forexample, upon receiving a transaction request for the purchase of a bagof potato chips and a soft drink, the item data-management server 117may store the item data within a record within item-data database 250.associate the data with a user record contained within user database240, and may further associate with each item within the item data oneor more labels used in the transaction server 106 based on associationscreated for each item description, as explained below. Alternatively,the item data-management server 117 may apply matching, machine-learningor other conventional algorithms, or a rule, to identify an appropriatelabel or labels based on the nature of the description contained in theitem data received from merchant system 108. For example, a descriptionof a bag of potato chips used within merchant system 108 (such as,“Chips, BBQ Large”) may have been previously associated with transactionsystem labels for “CHIPS,” “BARBEQUE CHIPS,” “GLUTEN-FREE,” “SNACKS,” orwith a specific brand identifier such as “LAYS.” The itemdata-management server 117 applies rules for the association of labelsestablished within the transaction server 106 by a merchant orthird-party user of the system, or an administrator of the system, inthe manner described below. The item data-management server 117 may alsoapply conventional algorithms and logic for selecting a label or labelsto associate with item data based on similarities between an availablelabel and the description of the item received from the merchant system108. For example, the item data-management server 117 may applyalgorithms to determine that a description containing the word “Chips”should be labeled with at least “CHIPS.”

The present invention, in various embodiments, provides a number of waysto establish associations between labels in the transaction server 106and item data descriptions used within a given merchant system 108 inorder to enable the transaction system to apply labels upon the receiptof transaction data and item data. As discussed above, item data may beprovided to the transaction server 106 by the merchant system 108 witheach transaction and stored by the transaction server 106, for example,in item-data database 250. Such data can be associated not only with theuser identification or code for the transaction, but also with themerchant identifier or code submitted with the transaction request, suchthat all of the item data associated with an individual merchant,whenever and however received from the merchant system 108, can berecalled from item-data database 250 based on a given merchantidentifier.

In another embodiment, rather than receiving item data from the merchantpayment system in each transaction, the transaction server 106 mayreceive and store all item data stored within a merchant system 108 in asingle communication. For example, a merchant may “seed” the item datawithin the transaction system by entering a “test” transaction withinthe merchant system 108 containing every unique individual itemidentifier, descriptor, or code from the merchant's inventory or menu,along with a merchant identifier assigned by the transaction server 106.(The merchant can then refund the test transaction so that no actualcharge or payment is created within the transaction server 106.)

In another embodiment, rather than receiving and labeling item data fromthe merchant payment system in each transaction, the transaction server106 may receive and store all item data stored within a merchant system108 in a single communication. For example, a merchant may “seed” theitem data within the transaction system by entering a “test” transactionwithin the merchant system 108 containing every unique individual itemidentifier, descriptor, or code from the merchant's inventory or menu.The transaction server 106 can then display the list of items andidentifiers or descriptors to the merchant via a GUI web interface, forexample, via the promotion-management server 119. (The merchant can thenrefund the test transaction so that no actual charge or payment iscreated within the transaction server 106.) Using the web-based GUI, themerchant can tag or label an item (or several items) as, for example,“FISH TACOS” to be eligible for a future “$2 off Fish Tacos” promotiondistributed to its customers, and/or to tag or label items “CHIPS” orwith a specific third-party brand such as “LAYS” in order to enablethird parties to target future consumer promotional rewards at suchitems.

After receiving item data from merchant system 108, however, andwhenever it is received, the transaction server 106 can display the listof items and identifiers or descriptors to the merchant via a GUI webinterface—for example, via the promotion-management server 119. Thepromotion-management server 119 is configured to access item datareceived from merchant payment system 108 and stored within thetransaction server 106 and to present a list of unique item descriptionsvia a web-based GUI to a merchant or other party with appropriatepermissions to access data via transaction server 106. Using theweb-based GUI, the merchant or other party would then be able to tag orlabel an item (or several items) as “FISH TACOS” to be eligible for afuture “$2 off Fish Tacos” promotion distributed to its customers,and/or to tag or label items “CHIPS” or with a specific third-partybrand such as “LAYS” in order to enable third parties to target futureconsumer promotional rewards at such items. As another example, amerchant may label all salad items displayed in the GUI by the promotionmanagement server 119 as “SALAD” and all of the soup items displayed inthe GUI by the promotion management server 119 as “SOUP.”

Establishment of Promotional Offers and Campaigns. In variousembodiments, the transaction server 106 for example, via thepromotion-management server 119—in addition to providing a web-based GUIor other interface for merchants to label data, can provide a ewe-basedGUI or other interface for patties to design promotional campaignscomprising a promotional offer redeemable at a point of sale (i.e., $2off of soup), criteria for selecting recipients of the redeemablepromotional offer (i.e., users that have never purchased soup atmerchant's locations), and/or criteria for redemption of the promotionaloffer (i.e., good only on Friday). The promotion-management server 119may create a promotional offer record to be stored in a promotionsdatabase 260 identifying information about the created promotion, suchas the amount of the promotion, the identity of the party funding thepromotion (in this example the retail merchant), information concerningthe locations and times at which the promotion may be redeemed, andidentifying the items for which the promotion will apply, using labelspreviously established in the transaction system by the merchant oranother party and associated with one or more inventory or menu items asidentified within the merchant system 108 (in this example, “SOUP”).

The promotion-management server 119 may have access to user informationwithin the transaction system, for example, user records stored within auser database 240 and to the transaction data and item data associatedwith each user. Upon the entry of criteria for selecting recipients of apromotional offer by a merchant or other party, the promotion-managementserver 119 may produce a list of user recipients with criteria matchingthe entered criteria, for example, users who have purchased any itemslabeled “SOUP” within the last 30 days at any of the locations of aparticular merchant. Alternatively, a third-party might seek a list ofeligible recipients who have not purchased items labeled “COKE” withinthe last 30 days at any merchant location. Users identified as eligiblerecipients may be identified anonymously, by category, or using userinformation such as name, email address, phone number, or mobile deviceID. A promotion sponsor may select all or some of eligible recipients toreceive an offer.

In some embodiments, the promotion sponsor may establish the promotionwith additional criteria to the redemption of the promotion by thepromotion recipient. For example, the promotion may be designated suchthat it may only be redeemed by a recipient after the recipient haspurchased five of an identified requisite item (such as an item labeled“COKE”), or when the recipient has, in the same transaction, purchasedanother specified item. The promotion sponsor may also includelimitations on redemption of a promotion tied to activity other thanactivity of the receiving consumer. For example, the promotion sponsormay restrict a promotion to a set number of redemptions each day, to acertain time period of a day, or to become redeemable only after someother condition has been achieved, such as the 100th transaction of aday.

Distribution of Promotions, Campaigns and/or Offers. Upon theestablishment of a promotional offer by a promotion sponsor via thetransaction server 106 and/or promotion-management server 119, a noticemay be sent to a recipient user based on information stored inassociation with a user record for the user, such as an email address,phone number, or mobile device identifier. In various embodiments, thenotification is directed to a software application executing on a mobileconsumer device 102, which software application can be used to displayor transmit a consumer identifier, in the form of a QR code or NFC orBLE communication, to a merchant point of sale system 108 at a retaillocation. The notification can inform the user that a promotional offerwill be applied to her next purchase meeting the specified redemptioncriteria, or can require an action by the user in order to activate thepromotion offer within the transaction server 106, such as clicking alink to a URL that directs the transaction server 106, and/or thepromotion-management server 119, to activate the promotional offer forthat user. The promotion-management server 119 can also store data inassociation with a promotional record concerning the identity of userswho “claimed” the promotion and the timing of such claims.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example promotion-based transactionprocess employing an embodiment of the disclosure. The steps of FIG. 3are performed in accordance with the disclosed embodiments and methods,as discussed herein. The example process 300 begins at step 302 inwhich, in response to receiving a user identifying information from userequipment 102, server code-generation module 232 of transaction server106 registers the user equipment 102 by generating a user identifierutilized to uniquely identify the user account.

At step 304, transaction server 106 receives a payment token frompayment gateway 151 (or 320) and associates the payment token with theuser record. At step 306, transaction server 106 stores the paymenttoken generated at step 302 in user database 240 as a transactionidentifier. At step 308, transaction server 106 detects the location ofuser equipment 102 in proximity to a retail location where a campaign isavailable for redemption and at step 310. In response to receiving auser payment request and based on the payment token, transaction server106 initiates a payment transaction at user equipment 102 throughpayment gateway 151 (or 320) against a previously submitted paymentinstrument associated with the user account. The previously submittedpayment instrument is based on a campaign promotion and associated withthe user account.

At step 312, transaction server 106 identifies the campaign promotion bya promotion identifier to initiate payment toward a next purchasetransaction of an item, in this case the payment transaction, at aretail location that meets a specified promotion redemption conditionusing previously-submitted payment instrument, the item identified byitem data.

At step 314, in response to identifying the campaign promotion,transaction server 106 associates the campaign promotion with the userrecord. At step 316, in response to detecting the user equipmentinitiating the payment transaction, transaction server 106 analyzes thetransaction data and the item data received from a POS device andlocated at the retail location, to determine whether the paymenttransaction and the item data meet the specified promotion redemptioncondition to cause initiating the payment transaction. At 320,transaction server 106 automatically applies the promotion to the nextretail payment transaction, immediately after the promotion is madeavailable to be applied.

Application/Redemption of Rewards/Promotions. Upon creation of apromotion record or records by a promotion-management server 119, whichmay include information concerning the identified eligible recipients,the promotion records may be relationally associated with user recordscontained in the user database 240 for the eligible recipients byupdating the user records to reflect the availability of the promotionaloffer. This association can be created by a promotion-management server119 upon creation of the promotional offer record or upon “claiming” ofthe promotion offer by a recipient user in response to a notification.

Following the association by the transaction server 106 of a promotionaloffer with a receiving user's transaction-system account (i.e., a useridentification token), the receiving user can present a useridentification token provided to the user by the transaction server 106at a merchant's POS or online payment system 108 to initiate payment fora purchase transaction. Upon presentation of the user identificationtoken, such as by scanning a QR code on the display of a mobile device102 at an optical scanner 112 in connection with merchant system 108,the merchant communicates the user identification token, transactionamount, and any other information to the transaction server 106, as in astandard transaction system transaction, over existing, establishednetworks such as network 104. In response to receiving a transactionrequest, the transaction server 106 queries the user record associatedwith the user token received in the transaction data to determinewhether any available promotions are associated with the user recordand, if so, whether the received transaction data and item data meet thecriteria established in the promotion record for the application of thespecified reward, As part of this process, the transaction server106—for example, via item data-management server 117—may cause item datareceived in the transaction request to be stored and/or associated withlabels based on rules established previously by the merchant or anotherparty as described herein, Such labels are then available to thetransaction system to determine whether item data received in thetransaction request from merchant system 108 satisfy criteria specifiedin any available promotion record for the application of a promotion.For example, when the transaction server 106 receives a transactionrequest from a merchant for the purchase of items identified in itemdata, the transaction server 106 may create a transaction record andassociate an item in the item data with the label “SOUP.” Thetransaction server 106 identifies, based on the user identifier receivedin the transaction data, that the user has received a promotional offerfor $2 off of any item labeled “SOUP” within the transaction server 106purchased at particular merchant locations. Transaction server 106 thenidentifies that the item data in the transaction request from merchantsystem 108 and stored in the resulting transaction record meets thecriteria for application of the identified reward because there is anitem associated with the label “SOUP,” and the merchant locationidentified in the transaction data matches the location criteriaspecified in the promotion record.

The promotional offer amount in a promotion record associated with thereceiving user's account in the transaction server 106, for whichtransaction and/or item data in a current transaction satisfiespromotion criteria, may then be applied automatically by the transactionserver 106 to the transaction amount. The transaction server 106recognizes the association of a promotion amount prior to retrieving auser's financial instrument token and submitting the token andtransaction to a payment-processing server 110. The transaction server106 stores the transaction information and stores informationidentifying the redemption of the promotion. The transaction server 106returns a message to the merchant system 108 approving the transaction.This approval message need not notify the merchant that any promotionaloffer, whether sponsored by the retail merchant or a third-party, wasredeemed and applied as part of the transaction. In this way, thetransaction system of the present invention enables the redemption ofpromotional rewards targeted to users based on item-level data, andpayment for the retail transaction, simply through the user'spresentation of an identifier to the merchant retail POS system 108, ina single step.

The transaction server 106 also generates a receipt message to the user,which may be communicated via email, SMS, or notification directly to asoftware application executing on the consumer mobile device 102, forexample, the software application used to communicate the useridentifier assigned by the transaction system to the merchant system108. The receipt notification informs that user that a promotional offerwas applied and that the transaction amount paid or to be paid by theuser was reduced by the amount of the applied promotional offer. Thesereceipt notification messages may be customized by the promotion sponsoror retail merchant.

Payment Facilitation. The transaction server 106 may facilitate paymentof the transaction amount by the transaction server 106 to a financialaccount associated with the merchant system 108. If the promotionaloffer was sponsored by the retail merchant at which the transaction tookplace, the payment to the merchant financial account by the transactionserver 106 may be for amount of the retail transaction less the amountof the promotional offer redeemed. If the redeemed promotion wassponsored by a party other than the retail merchant submitting thetransaction request, the payment to the merchant financial account maybe for the full amount of the transaction, without subtraction of theamount of the promotional offer. The transaction server 106 may thencreate a second transfer of funds, this time in the form of a debit tothe financial account associated with the party that sponsored theredeemed promotional offer, as identified in connection with thepromotion record for the redeemed offer.

The transaction server 106 may further submit a charge to the user'sassociated financial account, by submitting a user's financialinstrument token to a payment processor server 110 in the mannerdisclosed above, for the transaction amount minus the amount of theredeemed promotional offer. The transaction server 106 provides digitalreceipts or messages to the receiving user concerning the transaction,for example, by communication to an application on the user's computingor mobile device 102 integrated with the transaction server 106 and/orusing addressable information associated with the user's account, suchas an email address. The message to the receiving user may identify thebalance remaining on the digital gift card associated with the user'stransaction system account. In this way, the transaction server 106receives payment, from the user and in some cases a third-partypromotion sponsor, equal to the amount that the transaction server 106transfers to the financial account associated with the retail merchantsystem 108 that initiated the transaction request.

Earning Rewards. In various embodiments, the transaction system of thepresent invention permits the promotions described herein to bedistributed and associated with eligible recipient user accountsdynamically, for example, upon the completion of the user of aqualifying purchase of a specified item. As an example, the promotionalcampaign and offer created by a promotion sponsor may condition thereceipt of a promotion upon the future purchase by any user of any“COKE” item. Upon the purchase of a “COKE” item, the promotion deliveredto the user presents the user with $2 off the next purchase of “CHIPS.”In this example, the promotion-management server 119 may create apromotion record upon input through a web-based GUI or other interfacefor the promotion sponsor reflecting the criteria for the delivery ofthe promotional offer to eligible recipients. However, because thedelivery of the promotion is conditioned upon a future purchase, noeligible recipients are identified for the promotion. The promotion maybe delivered dynamically to eligible recipients in various mannersconsistent with the present invention. For example, the transactionserver 106, upon the receipt of transaction data from a merchant system108 may determine whether the transaction data and/or item data receivedmatches the criteria to trigger delivery of any promotional offersstored in a promotions database 260. Alternatively, the user record maybe updated with received transactional information in the ordinarycourse as described herein, and the promotion-management server 119 mayupdate its query on connection with the created promotion to identifyeligible recipients and deliver promotional offer notifications asreceipt eligibility criteria are satisfied in future transactions.

Data Reporting and Analytics. The transaction server 106 may provide afurther benefit in that the recorded transaction information may beanalyzed, individually or in the aggregate, to identify trends inconsumer behavior associated with the receipt and redemption of anygiven promotion, or with respect to any given item contained within amerchant payment system, such as the average amount spent by users whenearning or redeeming item-level promotions, additional items purchasedalong with a promoted item, and/or purchases of the promoted item withina period of time following the redemption of the promotion. Suchinformation may be combined with other information within thetransaction server 106 concerning user purchasing behaviors, andcommunicated to purchasing or receiving users, or to merchants,suppliers, or manufacturers in communication with the transaction server106, for a variety of purposes apparent to those of skill in the art.

Importantly, as a result of consistent use of labels to define items initem-level promotions, the economics of a promotion are normalizedacross merchants and a degree of success can be assessed for thecampaign as a whole by aggregating merchant-level success rates.Moreover, success can be assessed consistently across merchants. Forexample, by comparing success rates among merchants, it may bedetermined that consumers in warm climates are unexpectedly moreresponsive to a promotion seemingly unrelated to outdoor temperature.Such insights may be more easily exploited than explained, which isoften the case with analytically driven assessments. Normalizedcomparisons provide “apples-to-apples” comparisons for metrics such asconsumer responsiveness, the effect of different price points orpromotion levels, etc. with merchants segmented geographically, by type,by prestige, or any other suitable criterion.

Messaging. In certain embodiments, the transaction server 106 may beconfigured to deliver a message to a recipient of a promotion bydelivering a message to an app installed and/or executing on a consumermobile device 102, or by email to a consumer promotion recipient who isa registered user of the transaction system or through other means suchas text or SMS message. The messaging by the transaction server 106 maybe configured by the promotion sponsor via a GUI used to establish anddistribute a promotional offer, and may be configured to be triggeredand delivered to a consumer registered with the transaction system uponsatisfaction of certain criteria, including, for example, locationcriteria. For example, the merchant system 108, in addition to or inconnection with optical scanner 112, may additionally include atransmitter 118 (i.e., a beacon) communicating an identifier viaBluetooth, BLE, radio frequency, or similar proximity wirelesscommunication. The transmitter 118 need not be connected to or part ofmerchant system 108. Upon detection of a signal from transmitter 118, asoftware app executing or installed on a consumer mobile device 102 cancommunicate the identifier over an existing network to the transactionserver 106 indicating that the consumer mobile device 102 is inproximity to a particular merchant location with which the transmitter118 is associated in the memory of transaction server 106. Thecommunication may also include a user code or token identifying the userto the transaction server 106. Alternatively, the communication fromconsumer mobile device 102 to transaction server 106 used to trigger apromotion marketing communication may utilize means other than acommunication from a Bluetooth or BTU, transmitter 118, such as CPS datafrom the consumer mobile device 102, to indicate the location of theconsumer near a retail merchant location at which a promotion may beredeemed. Upon receipt of that communication, the transaction server106, through the promotion-management server 119, may match the useridentifier in the user database 240, and match the merchant locationwithin the promotions database 260 and/or item-data. database 250, todetermine whether the user is the recipient of any promotions that maybe redeemed for items (such as a “COKE”) sold at the merchant locationassociated with the identified transmitter 118. If a promotion isidentified, the transaction server 106 may communicate a message to bedisplayed on a consumer mobile device 102 notifying the user that theuser may redeem a promotion for a specified item by using a software appon consumer mobile device 102 to initiate a transaction at the retailmerchant's POS in communication with the transaction server 106. Forexample, such a message may inform a user: “Pay here with the [XYZ] Appand save $2 on any Coke product;” or “Buy a Coke here with the [XYZ] Appand get a free bag of chips.” Where there are multiple matches formessages that may be delivered to a promotion recipient, the transactionserver 106 may arbitrate between available messages, including forexample, by giving priority to a message of a promotion sponsor that haspaid a premium fee to the system provider, by randomly selecting amessage, or by selecting a message that the consumer recipient has notyet received in lieu of delivering a repeat message to the consumer. Thetransaction server 106 may retain data on messages delivered toregistered users in this fashion, including the timing and content ofmessaging, in order to determine, based on a user's purchasingtransaction history, whether the messaging and promotions are effectiveat influencing consumer behavior.

Error Correction. In connection with the digital receipts generated bytransaction server 106 and communicated to a user following atransaction, for example, at a consumer mobile device 102, the systemmay also provide a consumer-interactive feature to permit the user toidentify any apparent errors in the redemption or application ofpromotions to the items purchased by the user. For example, the receiptfor a transaction may permit the user to click on an item in the receiptvia, e.g., an embedded HTML, interface, or through a native interfacegenerated within a software app executing on consumer mobile device 102,The transaction server 106 may then query the user database 240 toidentify any promotions available to that user, and display to the usera list of such promotions. By selecting one of the displayed promotions,the user can request that the transaction server 106 apply the selectedpromotion to an item. To the extent that the provider of transactionserver 106 identifies that the consumer is correct and an availablepromotion was mistakenly not applied to a purchased item, thetransaction server 106 can apply the promotion retroactively and priorto the submission of a charge to the user's registered paymentinstrument via a payment processor.

Item-Level Ordering. The transaction server 106 may provide contentdata, such as merchant information, location information, menu oravailable item information, pricing information, and/or nutritionalinformation, to an app running on the user's device 102 to enable theapp to display a listing of merchants near the user's location, or someother specified location, at which the user can create an order usingthe app in communication with the transaction server 106. The list maybe classified for display to the user in a variety of forms, including,for example, by type of goods available, nature of the retail merchant,location, price range, user reviews, popularity, the user's past ordersor other user data stored in the transaction server 106 concerning theuser, or other criteria stored by or available to the transaction server106.

The transaction server 106 may also provide information to an appidentifying menu items and/or items available for purchase or order ateach merchant, for example, through the use of expanding windows or newwindows when the user selects or clicks on one of the merchantsdisplayed in the list view. The transaction system 106 may acquire menu,item, pricing, nutritional, or other information concerning the goodsand services offered by a merchant through various forms ofcommunication to servers of the retail merchant or affiliated with theretail merchant that store such information and/or make the informationavailable to consumers via web applications of the merchant or others.For example, menu information for a merchant may be stored on servers ofthird-party ordering aggregators, which work with multiple unaffiliatedservices, or on servers of a provider of a proprietary, merchant-brandedwebsite or ordering mobile app. Information may be obtained by thetransaction server 106 through communication to such servers, eitherthrough publicly accessible APIs or through dedicated communicationsdesigned specifically for each third-party and authorized and permittedby such party. Menu information may also be publicly available from anumber of public-facing websites. Details of an exemplary system aredescribed, for example, in the '835 application mentioned above.

Generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that allparameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described hereinare meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions,materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specificapplication or applications for which the inventive teachings is/areused. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertainusing no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to thespecific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way ofexample only and that, within the scope of the appended claims andequivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwisethan as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of thepresent disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system,article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, anycombination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials,kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials,kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included withinthe inventive scope of the present disclosure.

As used herein, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or”rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, orclear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of thenatural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; orX employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under anyof the foregoing instances. Moreover, articles “a” and “an” as used inthe subject specification and annexed drawings should generally beconstrued to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear fromcontext to be directed to a singular form, In addition, the terms like“user equipment,” “mobile station,” “mobile,” “communication device,”“access terminal,” “terminal,” “handset,” and similar terminology, referto a wireless device (e.g., cellular phone, smart phone, computer, PDA,set-top box, Internet Protocol Television (PTV), electronic gamingdevice, printer, and so forth) utilized by a user of a wirelesscommunication service to receive or convey data, control, voice, video,sound, gaming, or substantially any data-stream or signaling-stream. Theforegoing terms are utilized interchangeably in the subjectspecification and related drawings. The terms “component,” “system,”“platform,” “module,” and the like refer broadly to a computer-relatedentity or an entity related to an operational machine with one or morespecific functionalities. Such entities can be hardware, a combinationof hardware and software, software, or software in execution. Forexample, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a processrunning on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a threadof execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, bothan application running on a server and the server can be a component.One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread ofexecution and a. component may be localized on one computer and/ordistributed between two or more computers. Also, these components canexecute from various computer readable media having various datastructures stored thereon. The components may communicate via localand/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having oneor more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting withanother component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across anetwork such as the Internet with other systems via the signal).

The processing unit that executes commands and instructions may be ageneral purpose computer, but may utilize any of a wide variety of othertechnologies including a special purpose computer, a microcomputer,minicomputer, mainframe computer, programmed microprocessor,micro-controller, peripheral integrated circuit element, a CSIC(customer-specific integrated circuit), ASIC (application-specificintegrated circuit), a logic circuit, a digital signal processor, aprogrammable logic device, such as an FPGA (field-programmable gatearray), PLD (programmable logic device), PLA (programmable logic array),RFID processor, smart chip, or any other device or arrangement ofdevices that is capable of implementing the steps of the processes ofthe invention.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here canbe realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits),computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.These various implementations can include implementation in one or morecomputer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processor, whichmay be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storagesystem, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) include machine instructions for a programmableprocessor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/orobject-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machinelanguage. As used herein, the terms “machine-readable medium”“computer-readable medium” refers to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory,Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructionsand/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readablemedium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal.The term “machine-readable signal” refers to any signal used to providemachine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.

The mobile device 102 acts as a gateway for transmitting the user's datato the network 104. The mobile device 102 can support multiplecommunication channels for exchanging multimedia and other data with theservers 106, 110 and other devices using a Wi-Fi LAN (e.g., IEEE 802.11standard) for Internet access, a short-range Bluetooth wirelessconnection for point-to-point access, and/or an NFC channel forclose-proximity access.

The storage devices 238, 242 may include computer storage media in theform of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory(ROM) and random access memory (RAM). A basic input/output system(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM.RAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit. Thedata or program modules may include an operating system, applicationprograms, other program modules, and program data. The operating systemmay be or include a variety of operating systems such as MicrosoftWINDOWS operating system, the UNIX operating system, the LINUX operatingsystem, the Xenix operating system, the IBM AIX operating system, theHewlett Packard UX operating system, the Novell NETWARE operatingsystem, the Sun Microsystems SOLARIS operating system, the OS/2operating system, the BeOS operating system, the MACINTOSH operatingsystem, the APACHE operating system, an OPENSTEP operating system oranother operating system of platform.

The storage devices 238, 242 may also include otherremovable/nonremovable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. Forexample, a hard disk drive may read or write to nonremovable,nonvolatile magnetic media. A magnetic disk drive may read from orwrites to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical diskdrive may read from or write to a removable, nonvolatile optical disksuch as a CD-ROM or other optical media. Other removable/nonremovable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in theexemplary operating environment include, but are not limited to,magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks,digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. Thestorage media are typically connected to the system bus through aremovable or nonremovable memory interface.

The foregoing description does not represent an exhaustive list of allpossible implementations consistent with this disclosure or of allpossible variations of the implementations described. A number ofimplementations have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understoodthat various modifications may be made without departing from the spiritand scope of the systems, devices, methods, and techniques describedherein. For example, various forms of the flows shown above may be used,with steps re-ordered, added, or removed. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

The terms and expressions employed herein are used as terms andexpressions of description and not of limitation, and there is nointention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding anyequivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof. Inaddition, having described certain embodiments of the invention, it willbe apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodimentsincorporating the concepts disclosed herein may be used withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thedescribed embodiments are to be considered in all respects as onlyillustrative and not restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer system comprising atransaction-management server comprising a computer processor programmedfor: receiving promotion information from a third-party device over acommunications network, the promotion information identifying apromotion redeemable in connection with orders from one or more merchantdevices and containing information identifying one or more items relatedto the promotion and an amount of the promotion, the one or moremerchant devices associated with merchants unaffiliated with thethird-party device; creating associations between the promotion and oneor more items offered for sale at merchant devices by relating thereceived promotion information to item records of the one or more items,the item records comprising one or more labels; adding the promotioninformation and associations to a database; receiving an order from anordering user device over the communications network, the orderspecifying one or more items; obtaining a geolocation of a userassociated with the ordering user device; identifying and transmittingto the ordering user device merchant identifiers of one or more of theunaffiliated merchants from which the one or more items identified inthe order are available, certain of the unaffiliated merchantsidentified by the merchant identifiers being ranked in order ofproximity to the user using the geolocation of the user; receiving aselection, by the user device, of a specific unaffiliated merchant ofthe certain unaffiliated merchants; determining that the promotion isredeemable in connection with the received order; applying the promotionto the received order; transmitting the order to a merchant device ofthe specific unaffiliated merchant.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe computer processor is further programmed to automatically assign thelabels to the item record based on at least one of: an item descriptionprovided by a third-party device, an item description provided by amerchant POS system or a set of rules for application of labels to itemrecords.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the promotion informationfurther comprises one or more of a dollar value, informationcorresponding to the information identifying one or more items, and oneor more conditions for promotion application.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the computer processor is further programmed for communicatingto the third-party device promotion redemption information.
 5. Thesystem of claim 4, wherein the promotion redemption informationcomprises at least one of: analysis of user transaction informationrelating to the promotion, average transaction amount related totransactions for which the promotion was redeemed, identification ofitems purchased by users when redeeming the promotion, location of userswhen redeeming the promotion, and timing of the promotion redemption. 6.The system of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is furtherprogrammed for distributing, to one or more user recipients, apromotional offer identifying the promotion and including informationindicating eligibility criteria for redemption of the promotion.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is further programmedfor distributing, to one or more user recipients, a promotional offeridentifying the promotion and notifying each of the one or more userrecipients that they are eligible for promotion redemption.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is further programmedfor determining that the promotion is redeemable in connection with thereceived order by: determining that a user account associated with theordering user device is eligible to redeem the promotion; anddetermining that the database contains an association between thepromotion and one or more of the items in the order; and if thepromotion information indicates one or more conditions for redemption ofthe promotion, determining that all conditions for redemption aresatisfied.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer processor isfurther programmed for: automatically deducting the amount of thepromotion from a total transaction amount to be charged to a paymentinstrument associated with a user account.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the computer processor is further programmed for: transmitting adigital receipt to the ordering user device, wherein the digital receiptincludes a list of items purchased and an identification of promotionsapplied, wherein each of the items listed and promotions identified inthe digital receipt includes a link to generate an error notificationwith the transaction-management server.
 11. A method comprising:receiving promotion information from a third-party device over acommunications network, the promotion information identifying apromotion redeemable in connection with orders from one or more merchantdevices and containing information identifying one or more items relatedto the promotion and an amount of the promotion, the one or moremerchant devices associated with merchants unaffiliated with thethird-party device; creating associations between the promotion and oneor more items offered for sale at merchant devices by relating thereceived promotion information to item records of the one or more items,the item records comprising one or more labels; adding the promotioninformation and associations to a database; receiving an order from anordering user device over the communications network, the orderspecifying one or more items; obtaining a geolocation of a userassociated with the ordering user device; identifying and transmittingto the ordering user device merchant identifiers of one or more of theunaffiliated merchants from which the one or more items identified inthe order are available, certain of the unaffiliated merchantsidentified by the merchant identifiers being ranked in order ofproximity to the user using the geolocation of the user; receiving aselection, by the user device, of a specific unaffiliated merchant ofthe certain unaffiliated merchants; determining that the promotion isredeemable in connection with the received order; applying the promotionto the received order; and transmitting the order to a merchant deviceof the specific unaffiliated merchant.
 12. The method of claim 11,further comprising automatically assigning the labels to the item recordbased on at least one of: an item description provided by a third-partydevice, an item description provided by a merchant POS system or a setof rules for application of labels to item records.
 13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the promotion information further comprises one ormore of a dollar value, information corresponding to the informationidentifying one or more items, and one or more conditions for promotionapplication.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprisingcommunicating to the third-party device promotion redemptioninformation.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the promotionredemption information comprises at least one of: analysis of usertransaction information relating to the promotion, average transactionamount related to transactions for which the promotion was redeemed,identification of items purchased by users when redeeming the promotion,location of users when redeeming the promotion, and timing of thepromotion redemption.
 16. The method of claim 11, further comprisingdistributing, to one or more user recipients, a promotional offeridentifying the promotion and including information indicatingeligibility criteria for redemption of the promotion.
 17. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising distributing, to one or more userrecipients, a promotional offer identifying the promotion and notifyingeach of the one or more user recipients that they are eligible forpromotion redemption.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein determiningthat the promotion is redeemable in connection with the received ordercomprises: determining that a user account associated with the orderinguser device is eligible to redeem the promotion; and determining thatthe database contains an association between the promotion and one ormore of the items in the order; and if the promotion informationindicates one or more conditions for redemption of the promotion,determining that all conditions for redemption are satisfied.
 19. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising automatically deducting theamount of the promotion from a total transaction amount to be charged toa payment instrument associated with a user account.
 20. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising transmitting a digital receipt to theordering user device, wherein the digital receipt includes a list ofitems purchased and an identification of promotions applied, whereineach of the items listed and promotions identified in the digitalreceipt includes a link to generate an error notification.